How Organizations Can Help Turn the Corner on Recession
There’s been some debate on the New York Times Opinion page concerning the relationship between unemployment and skill gaps. Unemployment has wavered to and fro since the recession, yet many employers have been unable to fill over half of their positions with qualified employees, states the CEO of ManpowerGroup in one of the articles.
On one side of the debate, Cecelia Conrad comments that education and training has fallen behind in the fields of math and science, areas that are increasingly important as money is poured into high-tech industries. Conrad proposes further funding for student loans, training vouchers, and community college programs.
On the other side of the debate, Peter Capelli, author of Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It and director of the Center for Human Resources at The Wharton School claims employers aren’t making enough of a concession or effort to fill necessary positions. He argues that organizations need to spend more money up front to hire, train and compensate either a current employee or a new one.
Capelli expounds the issue further in a Wall Street Journal article, Why Companies Can’t Find the Employees They Need, and suggests the solution lies in three ideas:
- Collaborate with higher-education programs – Academic course work can be tailored where future employees learn needed skills while still in the classroom.
- Mimic the apprenticeship model – Pay new hires a little less as they go through training to learn the job skills they need.
- Promote gradually from within – Give employee’s various projects that allow them to acquire new skills over time.
In the middle of the debate is Liz Schuler of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization representing over fifty unions. She argues that industries need to organize and fund worker-training programs.
In my opinion, the answer lies somewhere in between. I understand that employers are afraid to pour money into employee training, especially if employees turn around and leave for another job with their newly acquired, valuable skills. Yet this fear needs to balance with the realities of the current workforce. Today’s employees want to find purpose at work; they must be able to see a future within their employer’s culture and leadership team. There is a reason that certain companies attract the best of the best; they pour money into professional development and now have the right to be selective. So give employees a path to advance from the very beginning and give them a preview of their career possibilities with your organization. They’ll stick around if you do.
What about you? What do you think is lacking or needed in order to grow and develop a strong and healthy workforce? Leave me a comment below.
